More wins legal challenge to £10m Adshel deal in London

The More Group has won the second round of a legal battle which could spare it the potential loss of &£10m in bus shelter contracts to rival JC Decaux. The More Group’s bus shelter division, Adshel, has a long-standing contract with London Transport to supply 10,000 shelters along bus routes in the capital, half of which carry posters. The deal is worth almost &£10m a year in advertising revenue. This contract was successfully challenged in the High Court by Hillingdon Council, which claimed it should have control over bus shelters, and the subsequent revenue, in its borough. It wanted to remove about 150 LT/Adshel sites and replace them with Decaux’s products. Hillingdon already has an agreement with Decaux for the supply of a further 115 bus shelters, plus street toilets, noticeboards and signs. But London Transport has won an appeal against the ruling, which would have set a precedent for other London boroughs and could have led to more head-to-head pitches for contracts between Adshel and Decaux. Adshel holds about 80 per cent of London’s sites, while Decaux has the remainder. Hillingdon Council has applied to the House of Lords for leave to appeal against the decision.